The Swedish appeals court granted the request of the Russian company Gazprom to suspend the decision of the Stockholm arbitration court in the company’s dispute with the Ukrainian company Naftogaz. This was reported by Ukrainian-Interfax, citing a press release from Gazprom.

“The Court of Appeal agreed that there are sufficient grounds for suspending the execution of the Stockholm arbitration award. The issuance of this order deprives Naftogaz of Ukraine of grounds to attempt to seize Gazprom’s assets abroad. This will be used by Gazprom when appealing the bailiffs’ actions in Switzerland and the Netherlands,” the release said.

It was also reported that the petition was filed by the Russian company on June 7, 2018. Also, according to current Swedish legislation, the decision of the court of appeal can now be challenged.

The company Naftogaz, in turn, said that they now hope to cancel the suspension of the arbitration award after they submit their counterarguments.

On February 28, 2018 it was reported that the Stockholm Arbitration had ruled that $4.64 billion should be awarded to Ukrainian Naftogaz from Russian Gazprom. Representatives of the Russian company refused to comply with this decision, and the Russian Foreign Ministry openly stated that they see it “as a slap in the face.”